Money Monday? I hope it's money in, not out, but I doubt it. Thanks for starting us up, Food Obsessed.

It was a good Christmassy weekend with decent weather - cold and just enough snow falling to be pretty but not enough for major shoveling. I finally got the outside lights finished so you won't need to listen to me griping about that job. This morning I am doing a very organized trip to town. I have a very succinct list and have even plotted my route. I've managed to avoid the shopping centres this month - and the Chinese buffet!

Two friends are having very serious operations this morning so it's just as well I'm going to be busy and out of the house or I'd be waiting for the phone to ring. I'm hoping to have all my wrapping done by the end of the day and be able to just relax tonight. I may even watch a movie!

I've decided to NOT make my Christmas goodie stuff this year. There's no way we need fudge, spiced nuts and cranberry crunch. I may change my mind but ... The recipes are really easy but are Food Porn. (I can send them to you in a plain brown envelope.)

Sort of neat ... there's a full moon AND an eclipse tomorrow night. That happens about once every 500 years or so. I may stay up until midnight to see it as I don't plan to be around for the next one. (There's your useless information for the day.)

Time for coffee, breakfast and list-checking. It'll be a Money Monday for sure!

How does your week look?

__________________

Change isnít easy. But if you donít change, you stay the same, and whereís the fun in that?

I prefer to think of it as money in, a prosperous Monday to kick off the pre Christmas week.

Ruth, that is not useless info. I think it's neat, I am going to try and stay up and keep the kids up for it. We have pretty snow here in VA too, which is unusual, it is melting though.

I feel unworthy to be posting here, but I will not give up. Baking day went bad I ate slivers of throwaway cookie parts. I wasn't hungry for lunch because of it, so I was ravenous for dinner, and made bad choices

Good morning, Okie. I'm hoping for money in, too, as there's been too much money out these past few weeks. At least all the gifts have been bought and wrapped. I had to run out for one more gift yesterday for my hairdresser. I have my hair appointment this morning and almost forgot to get her something!

Ruth, speaking of food porn, (we were, weren't we? ), I made your rum cake yesterday, but it's safely stashed in the freezer for Christmas day. I'm glad you got the rest of your lights up this weekend. Have a successful day of shopping in Brockville and have a safe trip.

Beloved, this is such a hard time of the year to stay on plan, but at least you're getting right back on the wagon after each mishap. Not giving up completely is an important step in the right direction. Here's hoping today is a clean day for you!

I have a hairdresser appointment first thing this morning, then I'll be off to the farm for the rest of the day. It will probably be a hectic day with lots of errands to run, but I'm up to the task. At least I have the peace of mind, knowing I'm all set for the holidays on my end.
I made a pot of Godiva Chocolate Creme coffee this morning, and it's absolutely delicious. Not a bad way to start the day!

Ruth, I've got the eclipse marked on my calendar, I read about it in early November and have been so afraid that I'll forget to get up at 3 a.m. to watch it... I hope it won't be too cloudy here - especially if I remember to get up!

I'm not even going to mention the "Money" in today's thread title. I know exactly which direction the money is flowing from this house.

We're taking the PreK and EK children to the nursing home to sing Christmas carols and pass out Christmas cards this morning. We've been practicing for weeks and the kids sound great at school - I wonder if they'll actually sing when we're at the nursing home?

Not much else new around here. I felt so lousy all weekend that I didn't eat much, but I'm feeling pretty good again this morning. Just in time to face the goodies that will start showing up at school this morning.

Ruth: I hope your friends's surgeries go well. Definitely stay up for the full moon eclipse - so neat!
Beloved: You aren't unworthy. This is a place for support, not kicking someone when they fall down. We pick you up instead and push you in the right direction gently.

Cottage: What are you getting your stylist? I need to pick something up for my nail tech (maybe a gift card for dinner out). I mean, she does such neat things to my nails!

Thanks for all the kind thoughts. I hope today is a little bit better here, in more ways than one.

Okie, thanks for getting us started! Glad to hear you're getting out today! I hope that the college has some cards, but most of all that you get a little good cheer from being out.

Ruth, I'm sorry to hear of your friends surgeries. I hope they make it through just fine and that you get all your home chores done in the process. Can the pups go visit at the hospital??

Annie, love those nails!

BelovedK, I second Annies comment as to your feeling "unworthy". I truly believe that if you come here everyday and keep trying that you will see the better days. If you've forgotten; you were doing great until you got super sick which took you right into the holidays. Just keep coming here and life will get better post-holiday. If you think about it, it's probably already better than last year....

Heidi, I'd rather be locked in a room with all the goodies than to attempt to take all your students to the nursing home. Have fun, and I know you'll have no problem resisting.

Linda, enjoy your day, especially since you know you're set for the holidays.

Cyndi, safe travels!

Me, easy to thrill...We have the old steam radiators and actually do pretty well $$ heating this big old house. I've been keeping the thermometer down, though, and just touched the radiator and it's actually not cranking at all! I had to check outside and it's 36 degrees. Supposedly there is a big blizzard up the road, but we sure aren't seeing it here. In the end, the money I saved on the heat will be going to the dentist. Oh, well!

As a hairdresser, I love when my clients think of me, it warms my heart. This year people cut back, so each gift made my heart warm <3

Debbie, gald you are staying warm, we have steam radiators too, they are so warm, now if the cold air wouldn't seep in through the doors...

Annie, Thank you for the message about being unworthy. I do take credit for not giving up and coming here even though I am not doing well. I will get back OP
Those nails are super cool!!! She deserves a huge present!!

Heidi, have fun with the kids, I'll bet it will be really cute, how old are they again>?

Okie - hello lady! Going to your college today? Wait, are you still moving to CA?

Ruth - prayers for your friends in surgery. I know there's the eclipse tonight...which is funny, I bought the DH and children a telescope for Christmas. If I knew they'd get up to see it, I think I'd have to give it early!!

Cottage - good place for the rum cake...and your coffee sounds amazing!

Beloved - it is tough this time of year!! I think you're doing great by jumping right back on the wagon, that's all we can do.

Lexiss - I was brave and looked at our oil level this am...half tank gone. We only filled it 1 month ago or so...that's 300 bucks for a month! And we only keep it at 60-64. My attitude - if you're cold, put on a sweatshirt instead of turning up the heat!

me - already did the treadmill. Was going to work, but the DS apparently has the stomach flu, so I'm staying home. Not bad, it's my first sick day in nearly 4 years. I hope he doesn't share it with me!

The scale was not kind this am, my guess is all the salt I had yesterday (bacon and cashews!)...it does seem to make a difference. I haven't had grains in two weeks, I guess it's time to start again.

Good morning all We went out for a walk in the neighborhood this morning. Such a beautiful sunrise and I love the smell of mesquite smoke. We are off to the airport after breakfast. It looks like we should make it east ahead of the storm

I have one meeting tomorrow morning at 8 and another Wed. at 10 but am on vacation otherwise.

Good morning, ladies (well, for 2 more minutes it is, LOL). I don't have time to read everybody's posts yet, but I'll come back tonight for personals (well, if we don't get slammed at work). Had our family Christmas party last night. It was a lot of fun and a lot of good food. I did okay, though. I had 2 of the brown and serve rolls and, literally, like a 1/2 inch square of a loaded twice-baked potato. Now THAT was hard b/c I frigging love those twice-baked potatoes...but I was a good girl.

The Paula Deen chewy cake turned out OKAY but I'm thinking it really needed sweetened coconut instead of unsweetened. Oh well. It did still taste good, though. I also made some of the pumpkin bread that's listed in the recipe section and added some dark chocolate chips to it...that was yummy!!! And I also modified a chocolate chess pie recipe to make it SB-friendly (made my own whole wheat pie crust and everything) and it was super yummy. I'm gonna try to post up that recipe tonight. YUM!!!

Hope all is well w/ you ladies. I think I'm gonna either take a nap or take my dog for a walk. We'll see which one wins.

Morning friends , Our rain is taking a break after several days of downpour so it will be nice to walk this morning without my raingear.

Yesterday was rough. I got busy and didn't make myself my number one priority and ran out of some of my favorite "on plan" food items. That left me eating what I didn't really want and ending up with wanting more. End of story, I didn't eat "off plan" food items but did eat way too much of certain "on plan" foods. And I'm paying for it this morning with a churning tummy and the dreaded gas. But today is a new day and I've looked over my healthy recipes, planned my meals, made my list, checked it twice and will be out the door grocery shopping right after my walk.

Had our family "gift in a jar" project day on Saturday and it went much smoother than I thought. Had a good time, laughed a lot and the jars turned out cute. Here is a picture going around the table starting with the back of our one and only GD in pink, to her left is our #2 GS's girlfriend, then our DD, #1 GS's wife and our other DD all hard at work on their jars in our diningroom.